ould well be spared, to threaten various points
along the coast of France and to capture her colonies. From these
comparatively simple aims he had been drawn aside into a continental
campaign, owing to the desirability of re-establishing Austria firmly in
the Pays Bas. That is to say, a political aim drew him away from the
simple and effective plan of a maritime and colonial war. Or rather it
would be more correct to say that he tried to carry on a limited
continental campaign as well as the coast expeditions which promised to
paralyse the activities of large numbers of Frenchmen.

Accordingly, Pitt and his colleagues, instead of concentrating their
activities on Flanders, prepared also to harass the coasts and colonies
of France, and to withdraw part of the Duke of York's force for service
in the Mediterranean or the West Indies. Instructions to this effect
annoyed both the duke and Coburg. Most reluctantly did the latter
consent to the divergence of the British towards Dunkirk; but, as he had
already decided to spend the rest of the campaign in reducing the border
fortresses, the division of forces had none of those appalling results
which Alison and others have detected. The duke's corps, then, turned
off to the right, and, after gaining some successes over bodies of the
French, set about the siege of Dunkirk. If his siege train had arrived
in time, the town would probably soon have surrendered. But now Carnot
was able to utilize some of the forces raised in the _levee en masse_.
By the beginning of September the French relieving army amounted to
45,000 men under General Houchard; while the Hessians and Hanoverians
covering the siege operations did not exceed 9,000 men. These made a
most obstinate and skilful defence in the village of Bambeke, and
thereafter at Hondschoote; but the inequality of force was too great;
and they were outflanked and driven back towards Furnes and Nieuport
with the loss of 2,600 men (6th to 8th September). The garrison also
attacked the besiegers and received much assistance from French gunboats
moored near the shore. It was an unfortunate circumstance that a storm
on 1st September had compelled a British frigate and a sloop to leave
their moorings. Even so, the duke's force beat back their assailants
into the town. But the defeat of the covering army at Hondschoote placed
it between the French, the walls of Dunkirk, and the sea. Only by a
speedy retreat could he save his men; and at midnig